North Korea is making progress on a submarine-launched ballistic missile system but any deployment of the technology is years away, a United States think tank said, as the UN Security Council promised action over Pyongyang’s latest test.
Advertisement
Earlier this month, the Security Council had failed to agree on a US-drafted statement to condemn North Korea’s launch of a ballistic missile that landed in or near Japanese-controlled waters.
The security council statement called on United Nations member states to “redouble their efforts” at a weapons embargo and economic sanctions against North Korea as a result of the missile tests. It flew 500 kilometres towards Japan, far exceeding the range of the North’s previous sub-launched missiles.
The increasingly provocative actions by North Korea do not exist in a vacuum, but instead appear to be responsive to the massive two-week Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) war games that began on Monday with over 50,000 South Korean and 30,000 United States soldiers taking part.
The 15-member council agreed on Friday to “take further significant measures” against North Korea, just days after the SLBM launch.
An underwater test-firing of a strategic submarine ballistic missile is seen in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency in Pyongyang April 24, 2016. He said it showed North Korea’s “great power and inexhaustible strength in the face of the trials of history and the challenges of our enemies”.
“The best way for the U.S.to escape a deadly strike from us is by refraining from insulting our dignity and threatening our security, by exercising prudence and self-control”, Jon told AP.
It said the activities have further raised the anger of North Korean soldiers at a time when the Korean Peninsula has reached the “brink of war” due to the start of annual joint military drills between the US and South Korea on Monday last week that Pyongyang says are an invasion rehearsal.
The submarine-launched test-firing is the third of its kind this year and marks an escalation in the North’s provocations, showing its apparent progress in developing weapons technology.
Advertisement
Stressing “the importance of working to reduce tensions in the Korean peninsula and beyond”, member states expressed “their commitment to a peaceful, diplomatic and political solution to the situation”.
